Wireless networks incorporating access nodes, relay nodes, and other small-cell access nodes are becoming increasingly common, and may be referred to as heterogeneous networks. Relay nodes improve service quality by relaying communication between an access node, and end-user wireless devices in the wireless network. For example, relay nodes may be used at the edge of a coverage area of an access node to improve and/or extend coverage and/or service, as well as in crowded areas having a high number of other wireless devices to increase the available throughput to the end-user wireless devices being relayed. Relay nodes are generally configured to communicate with the access node (e.g., a “donor” access node) via a wireless backhaul connection, and to deploy a radio air interface to which end-user wireless devices can attach. Donor access nodes generally include scheduling modules or schedulers for scheduling resources to wireless devices directly or indirectly connected thereto, as well as to the wireless backhaul connections for the various relay nodes connected thereto.
Variations in types of relay nodes, and/or resource usage thereof by end-user wireless devices, may not be efficiently accounted for by a donor access node. For example, different relay nodes are configured to deploy their respective wireless air interfaces using different transmit powers, which results in varying numbers of end-user wireless devices that attach thereto, which can alter the resource usage of each relay node differently. These (and other) variations in resource requirements between differently-configured relay nodes can result in sub-optimal allocation of resources for the respective backhaul connections of each relay node, thereby affecting the quality of service delivered to end-user wireless devices connected thereto.